Personal and Corporate Identity in Christ

You could ask many people in America if they are Christians and get a yes answer. If you to follow up with a question about church membership and participation, many of the same people would say something like, "well my faith is a personal thing" or "I worship God in my own way" or "I believe in God, not church".

As I have written previously on this blog, there is no affirmation of this kind of Christian in the NT. The Christian life as revealed/described in the Bible always assumes believers are under the authority of and participating in a local church. Therefore, we can say with confidence that anyone who calls themselves a Christian and chooses not to participate in a local body is either not a true believer or needs to be exhorted to begin looking for the church where God would have them grow and serve. Being unable to participate is another issue, but it is clear when God calls someone to Christ he also calls them to participate in a local body of believers. The result of true salvation should always be a personal and corporate identity in Christ.

There is another possibility. What about the person who attends and participates in a local church, but has no personal relationship with the Lord? This is the person whose entire religious experience is the corporate one. They have no idea what to do outside church and official activities, because for them that is all there is. This person will serve on committees, make meals for people, share prayer requests and maybe even teach at the children's level where it tends to be pre-packaged, but they don't personally know the Lord. This may be the more difficult situation to address, because you can see if someone is not participating in the corporate church life and exhort them to start, but it is hard to see if someone knows the Lord when they are going through the motions at church.

As churches have become more and more activities oriented the unsaved church participant has many opportunities to appear Christian to themselves and others. What can we do to help people see themselves as they are and come to true faith in Christ?

As usual the answer is keeping church as simple and Christ/Word centered as possible. If we emphasize personal sanctification for each follower of Jesus and teach the full counsel of God, then we must assume the word will do its work as lost people get saved and saved people mature. Is there a risk that focusing on personal spiritual growth will cause corporate participation to decline? Absolutely not, because as people really mature they become more and more aware that the Christian life is a call to both the Lord Jesus and to the local body. If people were serving in programs without knowing the lord and they get saved, they may then get less involved in programs, because they are finally being led by the Lord. I hope we are OK with that!

By contrast, if corporate programs and service opportunities are emphasized over Bible teaching for personal spiritual growth there will be negative consequences. The corporate identity may be seen as a matter of personal comfort/choice, not an imperative from scripture, if people loose interest or find other things to do they won't see any problem with leaving. Also, the church participant who does not know the Lord may never hear the truth so as to be exposed as lost and be saved.

True Christian faith is by definition both a personal and corporate identity in Christ. However, only by teaching the whole counsel of God for the purpose of convicting/converting the lost and exhorting/growing the saved can we be sure we are doing our part to avoid the tragedy of people thinking they are Christians when they are not - whether they are sitting in the pews or staying home.